SC rejected plea of 700 soldiers against FIRs in Manipur encounter deaths
The Supreme Court rejected the plea of 700 soldiers. A petition 700-odd Army personnel was made protesting dilution of protection from prosecution under Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in disturbed areas for alleged fake encounters. The Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe only in a few specific cases after finding that the Army had not conducted any inquiry into 15-20-year-old incidents.
Dealing with the petition, a bench of justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit said, “We are aware of the difficult situation faced soldiers in disturbed areas. That is why we repeatedly asked the attorney general on action taken on complaints of fake encounters for the past 15-20 years. When we found nothing has been done, we handed over the investigation to CBI in only those cases where a prima facie finding on possible fake encounters had been recorded high court, judicial commission, Justice Santosh Hedge Commission or NHRC.”
The court said that the Army had the option of opting for a court of inquiry even as there were several cases where the Gauhati high court granted compensation and Manipur paid, indicated a possibility of fake encounter. That is why the SC rejected the plea of 700 soldiers. However, the Supreme Court clarified that protection under AFSPA would be available to soldiers for every genuine encounter.
The bench said that it would not hear the Centre as no notice was issued on the petition. Justices Lokur and Lalit asked the SG, “Who has stopped you from coming out with a mechanism to strike balance? Why does it require our intervention? These are issues you need to decide. We are not stopping you from debating. You can debate and find out a mechanism for striking balance between armed forces’ operations.”
The SC rejected the plea of 700 soldiers. Was it the right decision?
